Category: Ideas

From Courtship to Harmony: The Journey of AI and Data in Marriage

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In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, the marriage between AI (Artificial Intelligence) and data has become a cornerstone for success. As business leaders and executives, understanding how to cultivate this relationship effectively can drive innovation, enhance decision-making, and lead to sustainable growth. This article delves into strategies that can help you make the AI and data partnership flourish within your organization.

The Foundation of a Successful Union

At the heart of the AI and data relationship lies the quality and quantity of data available. AI algorithms thrive on large volumes of diverse and clean data. Business leaders need to ensure that data is not only collected comprehensively but is also accurate, up-to-date, and representative of the business landscape.

  1. Data Governance is Paramount: Establish clear data governance policies and practices. Define ownership, accessibility, and security protocols to ensure data is treated as a valuable asset. An effective data governance strategy builds a strong foundation for AI implementation.
  2. Embrace a Data-Driven Culture: Foster a culture that values data-driven decision-making. Encourage employees to leverage data in their day-to-day operations and instill the belief that data is a strategic asset that drives growth and innovation.

Preparing for the Wedding: Data Preparation

To maximize the potential of AI, data needs to be refined and prepared for analysis. This step is critical for ensuring the success of AI initiatives.

  1. Data Quality Enhancement: Invest in data cleansing, validation, and enrichment. Poor data quality leads to inaccurate insights and unreliable AI outcomes.
  2. Feature Engineering: Understand the context of your business and engineer features that align with AI goals. Feature engineering involves selecting, transforming, and combining variables to improve model performance.

The Harmony of AI Implementation

Implementing AI effectively requires collaboration and coordination between technical and business teams.

  1. Define Clear Objectives: Identify the specific business problems AI will address. Whether it’s optimizing supply chain logistics or personalizing customer experiences, clarity in objectives is key.
  2. Selecting the Right Tools: There is a plethora of AI tools available, from open-source platforms to commercial solutions. Choose tools that align with your organization’s needs and existing technology infrastructure.
  3. Team Collaboration: Collaboration between data scientists, IT, and business units is crucial. Data scientists need a deep understanding of business processes to develop AI solutions that drive real value.

The Journey to Continuous Improvement

The AI and data partnership is not a one-time event; it’s a continuous journey of learning and improvement.

  1. Iterative Development: AI models and algorithms should be treated as living entities that evolve over time. Continuously update and refine them based on new data and changing business conditions.
  2. Monitor and Evaluate: Regularly assess AI performance against defined objectives. This includes identifying potential biases, monitoring accuracy, and recalibrating models if necessary.
  3. Upskilling and Training: Invest in upskilling your workforce to understand AI concepts. Business leaders should also strive to enhance their AI literacy to guide decision-making effectively.

The Role of Humans in the Loop in Data-Centric AI Development

In the journey towards a harmonious AI and data partnership, the role of Humans in the Loop remains paramount. Even during the transition from a model-centric to a data-centric AI approach, Humans in the Loop continues to play a crucial role in five key areas:

  1. Data Collection and Data Annotation: Humans in the Loop is responsible for curating and annotating high-quality data, ensuring its relevance and accuracy. Their domain expertise contributes to creating training sets, identifying patterns, and extracting valuable insights. 
  2. Exception Handling: While AI excels in well-defined scenarios, handling exceptions and unfamiliar situations can be challenging. Humans in the Loop navigates real-world scenarios, resolves edge cases, and adapts to unforeseen circumstances, enhancing system reliability.
  3. Continuous Feedback and Iteration Loop: Humans in the Loop actively validates and calibrates AI systems, addressing biases and errors. They monitor AI outputs, provide feedback, and enable quick iterations for faster market entry in the data-centric AI era.
  4. Ethical Oversight and Decision-Making: Ethical AI systems require human oversight to establish guidelines, define boundaries, and make critical decisions, especially in morally demanding situations.
  5. Contextual Understanding: Humans bring contextual understanding, comprehending complex nuances and subjective elements that can challenge machines. This understanding leads to reliable and informed decision-making.

To delve into practical use cases showcasing the pivotal role of Humans in the Loop in data-centric AI development, explore examples from MENA Alliances that highlight the impact and significance of this collaborative relationship. These use cases illuminate the path from model-centric AI to a holistic data-driven approach, showcasing how the partnership between humans and technology creates a harmonious symphony of innovation and progress.

The Road Ahead

The partnership between AI and data holds immense promise for businesses. However, success requires commitment, dedication, and a strategic approach. By prioritizing data quality, fostering a data-driven culture, and nurturing cross-functional collaboration, business leaders can ensure that their AI initiatives yield tangible and sustainable results.

In this era of digital transformation, the AI and data marriage is not just an option—it’s a necessity for staying competitive and relevant. As business leaders and executives, your commitment to making this union work will undoubtedly shape the future of your organization.

Remember, the journey might be challenging, but the rewards are limitless.

Embrace the Power of AI and Data Collaboration to Ignite Innovation and Growth! Visit MENA Alliances Today!

Dreams Are Bigger Than Boundaries!

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Young college-educated women in Palestine face many challenges as they pursue their dreams and careers. Despite having degrees and aspirations that extend beyond the walls that confine their territory, these women often encounter obstacles that limit their opportunities. Politics may create boundaries, but these resilient women are proving their dreams have no bounds. Through the power of the internet, these women are proving their place on the world stage.

 

Politics may create boundaries, but these resilient women are proving their dreams have no bounds

 

Women and girls living in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) often face discrimination and are at risk of gender-based violence (GBV). Cultural norms can restrict women to traditional female professional roles, leaving little room for advancement. Young girls often lack role models to look up to, which can hinder their aspirations for advancing professionally. Unemployment is high in the region, with a rate of over 25%, and those who are working may be satisfied with just keeping their jobs rather than advancing into leadership roles. These roadblocks can make it more challenging for women to move into leadership positions, especially in male-dominated businesses.

 

Progress for Women in Palestine

Despite these challenges, progress is being made. Female participation in the Palestinian workforce has doubled in the past seven years and now stands at 19%. Women make up 50% of those enrolled in local universities and they are increasingly taking control of their business ideas and starting new companies. MENA Alliances is one organization that is working to help alleviate poverty and injustice in the MENA region by creating jobs for over one million disadvantaged women and young people from the region. They provide training, job opportunities, and growth while promoting social justice, and economic opportunity.

Talented Palestinian Woman Connects to Dream Job 

Raneem is a talented individual with a wide range of website management and SEO skills. With expertise in WordPress, Sala, Joomla, T-Soft, SKwid, and mastery of the Yoast SEO Tool, Google Search Console, and Google Analytics, Raneem is well-equipped to handle the challenges of on-page SEO management.

As a young woman interested in tech, Raneem dreamed of working with multinational companies. She had hoped to find mentors to enrich her experience and help her build worldwide expertise. Thanks to MENA Alliances, Raneem was allowed to work as an SEO specialist for a US company. This experience was precious for Raneem and helped her grow personally and professionally.

“Working with multinational companies and mentors to enrich my experience and build a worldwide expertise was one of my dreams. MENA Alliances provided me with the opportunity to work as an SEO specialist for a US company. This experience was the greatest as it added to me a lot. THANK YOU, MENA Alliances, for pointing me in the proper direction.” – Raneem

Raneem is grateful to MENA Alliances for providing this opportunity and helping her discover E-work or remote work options. She is excited to continue building her SEO and website management skills and expertise.

Resources Help Dreamers Overcome Boundaries

In Raneem’s case, MENA Alliance was a resource. It was the support system she needed to get outside the barrier she felt within her country. Tech companies who choose impact sourcing through these organizations provide a valuable resource to women like her. This hiring option lifts not just the worker, but the entire community in which she lives. Raneem has been able to reach her dreams, and through her example to other women and youth in the region, others will learn they, too, are capable. Raneem, who worked hard to achieve her education and background, now also has the pride of actualizing her dream to include in her life’s accomplishments. 

 

Sources:

  • Mardirossian, T. (2019, April). Challenges Facing Palestinian Women. Retrieved from The Wilson Center: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/challenges-facing-palestinian-women
  • The Power of E-Work: Creating Opportunities for Young Women in the West Bank and Gaza. (2019, November). Retrieved from World Bank: https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/147761583135333286/pdf/The-Power-of-E-Work-Creating-Opportunities-for-Young-Women-in-the-West-Bank-and-Gaza.pdf

Making the Most of Impact Hiring Through Win-Win Partnerships

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A partnership between MENA Alliances and Figure Eight in the USA created a beneficial collaboration while making the most of impact hiring. Both organizations work to use hiring as a means to make social change. Known as impact sourcing, corporations understand the value that it creates for their businesses. It starts with hiring and developing individuals who may otherwise face barriers to economic opportunities. The benefits of this hiring strategy are reaped by everyone involved.

MENA Alliances provide access to skilled professionals from the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region. The organization has grown to represent a valued recruitment and placement model that provides much-needed talent from the area.

 

Figure Eight, an Appen company, combines the best of human and machine intelligence to provide high-quality annotated training data that powers the world’s most innovative machine learning (ML) and business solutions.

These factors underpin the value of impact hiring: talent practices that create business advantage through hiring and developing individuals who face barriers to economic opportunity. MENA Alliances provides innovative technology jobs for many in the MENA region who often face barriers to employment opportunities. 

“MENA Alliances is the talent factory, the laboratory of dreamers, and the hand of the lost. I am one of the dozens of the MENA Alliances’ success stories, of which I was once a part. There is no limit to my love, happiness, thanks, and gratitude to MENA Alliances in particular.” – Yasmeena, GAZA.

Talent Factory of the World – Hope for Hungry Dreams

There can be no more tremendous honor than to be in the business of delivering hope to those in need. MENA Alliances build up the individual and set them on the path to success. We all have been taught the parable ‘Teach a man to fish.” In these areas, troubled economies have left many people with skills and talent, but still needing help to fish. There are no local streams.

MENA Alliances connects tech companies that need coding and tech skills with workers from the Middle East and North Africa regions. It restores the confidence of the individual worker and brings much-needed resources to their families and communities. It changes lives. Companies who contract through MENA Alliances get real value in return. The work is top-quality and done at a low cost. The employee is thorough, professional, and grateful. 

When someone faces a crisis and a window of opportunity opens, it means much more to them. The success of achievement matters more. Each step of their journey may have come with tears, visible or invisible scars, and possible loss. For MENA Alliance, a successful candidate is more than a hire or a job placement; it is a chance for life to change, for a human being to alter their path, and an opportunity for someone to become a superhero. All MENA Alliance talent success stories are heroes to their families and communities. 

A MENA Alliance Talent Success: Huda Wajeh Matrabie 

 

Huda Wajeh Matrabie is an example of how MENA Alliances developed success in an individual. Huda recently had the opportunity to work on a year-long data-labeling project. Her technical and people skills shined through as she learned the skills of freelancing remote jobs. 

Her fresh attitude and hard work were appealing to those around her. She became a leader to others quickly and continued to believe in her ability to do more. She has struggled with her self-esteem for some time as she had difficulty finding a job that matched her education level after graduation. After joining MENA Alliances, she found an organization whose goal was for the greater good – to bring jobs to those who faced obstacles and were less fortunate so everyone had an opportunity for success. 

“From Nothing to Something” – Hear for Yourself the Human Depth of Impact Hiring

“I’m Huda Wajeh Matrabie from Gaza _ Palestine, currently working as an English language teacher. From nothing to something. I will share my story of working with MENA Alliances. 

I am grateful for a lot and owe that to MENA Alliances. It was the first company that put me on the steps of the freelancing world by doing entry-level remote jobs without even having the previous experience to accomplish these tasks. Being surrounded by energetic people that I had never known before allowed me to think bigger than I probably ever would have thought. 

In 2019, as a fresh graduate with no opportunities in front of my eyes and the absence of jobs in Gaza after graduation. MENA Alliances believed in our abilities as women to be an “Innovation for Hope.” We could do the easy task of teaching machines and artificial intelligence. These small steps led us to something bigger and more significant in the coming months and the chance to become more worthy. 

I began doing easy tasks on the client’s platform, then to being a coordinator for MENA Coding school. Our work filled a large part of our life. The only way to be truly satisfied was to do what we believed was great work. The only way to do great work was to love what we were doing in those days. 

It was a chance to work with people from different cultures and backgrounds. It was the time to tell the students more about MENA Alliances and how they would help them start their career paths in coding. Without a doubt, it was a fruitful and unique experience.

You can do huge things with a small team and MENA Alliances. It was literally like that!”

 

What is Freelancing ?

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 A freelancer is someone who performs tasks, usually for multiple employers over the course of a year for a fee without being an official company employee. . This allows the freelance freedom to do tasks on their own. This process of doing job is called freelancing. For example, a magazine or website will have a core team of editors who hire freelance writers to write articles, or a TV production crew might hire freelance cameramen to work on one series of programmes.

Freelancers may work part-time or full-time. Because they are not considered employers, freelancers are allowed to work for other employers and are usually permitted to perform tasks in their own way, as long as the work gets done to the client’s specifications.

Freelancing can be tons of fun. You create your own hours, accept the jobs you want. Plus, many freelance and contract jobs come with the enormous perk of working from the comfort of your own desired environment.

Payment for freelance work also varies greatly. Freelancers may charge by the day or hour, or on a per-job basis. However, large clients such as businesses may have internal policies regarding freelance pay, so a freelancer accustomed to charging by the hour may be asked to accept a lump sum payment for a particular job. Although, if a client’s conditions are undesirable, the freelancer often does not hesitate to attempt negotiation before accepting or rejecting the job.

What are the advantages of freelancing?

Choose your work. Being a freelancer means you don’t have a boss telling you what to do so you can say ‘no’ to jobs you don’t want. You might also get to work at home for specific projects. As long as your work is delivered to the deadline most clients won’t mind how and when you do it – making freelancing a good option for people who don’t want to work normal office hours.

Better pay. Freelancers can negotiate your own rates with the companies who hire you. Companies are often prepared to pay freelancers a better rate than their own staff because they don’t have to pay for things like sick leave as part of the contract. The more experience you have then the more money you can ask for.

What are the disadvantages of freelancing?
  • Getting work 

    There are a lot of freelancers out there and getting your first few jobs can be hard. Just being good at what you do isn’t enough – you need to network, market yourself and make contacts because no-one will hire you if they don’t know you’re there! The workload can be unpredictable – sometimes you might be working all night to meet three deadlines in one week, while even the most successful freelancers have months where they get no work at all.

  • Managing your money

    You will not receive a regular pay cheque per month and you’ll also need to remember to keep some money aside for times when you’re ill or there’s no work – and while it might be great to have a holiday any time you want, remember that no-one will pay you for it!

There are both pros and cons to being a freelancer. Consider what is important to you. More work is being given to freelancers each year, so if you have special talents, it could be the best career option for you. But remember, you have to market yourself and sell your services. Once you get a good reputation and portfolio of work, it gets to be much easier.

One of the benefits of signing on as a freelancer with MENA Alliances is that we do the selling for you! Once your name and credentials are in our system, you will have the opportunity to do the work you love without the difficulty of trying to sell it!